Things were quickly going awry. The prison had once been a sanctum, but fear lingered on the edge of everybodys minds. Hellebore did as she always did, wandering through the night, keeping her new aquaintences safe. She knew they were grateful to her, for she could see it in their well rested faces. All of them, save Rick. He wandered in the darkest corridors late at night. She knew he rarely slept or ate anymore. Maggie and Glenn had been gone for an entire day now, and all the prison's residents were worried sick for them. Hellebore suspected the worst. She usually did.
She stood in the guard tower, sharpening her sword carefully, glancing up to see Rick walking down towards the fenceline, Carl following close behind. She held her hand up to keep the sun out of her eyes. A dark girl with long dreadlocks, limping, not staggering, nor groaning, walked up to the fence. She stared at Rick who barely raised his gun, having noticed the basket of baby formula in her hand. The walkers milled about- wait, what?
Hellebore sprinted down the stairs, practically throwing herself off the edge. She supposed it was her commotion as she ran towards them, or the general liveliness of the girl, but it was only now that the walkers surrounding her noticed her liveliness. She stumbled away, still holding onto her wounded leg.
"Hey! Rick! You fuckin dumbass, save her ass!" Rick turned to Hellebore who was sprinting towards them through the long grass, her skirt catching on the prickers. Carl ran to open the fence for her. Without hesitation, Hellebore ran at the walkers encircling the dark girl. She had barely drawn her sword before she kicked one down to the ground and slammed her blade into it's head. With an unsated thirst for violence that came of the prisons domestic lifestyle, she viciously maimed the other two, lopping off their arms first before ramming her sword down each of their throats, their teeth gnawing at the blade. The last one stumbled dumbly towards her and she walked up to it and gave it a good kick to the neck. Its head fell backwards and with another well aimed jab it wriggled on the ground. She pulled her foot up and began stomping its head in, blood spattering her boots and rotten brain fluid oozing onto the ground around her. Satisfied and feeling more relieved than a sober man taking a sip of good whiskey for the first time in thirty years, she let out a great sigh before turning back to Rick and the dark girl.
"Well come on then, get inside. More of them are bound to come bumbling up, and then I'd traumatize you even more."
She obeyed and followed them back inside the gate. Rick jogged up to match Hellebores pace, Carl keeping the dark girl at gunpoint.
"What the hell am I supposed to do with her? She's a danger to the group, what if she killed Maggie and Glenn, for all we know-"
"She's got your baby formula, you fuckin dick. Just play nice for two bloody seconds."
Rick lost her pace and stared after her, long legs more revealed as the yellowing grass swept her skirt up along with her. She certainly wasn't ever at a lack for words.
Hellebore was determined to stay out of the whole situation. It all sounded like a bad soap opera. Glenn and Maggie captured in some shithole nicey-nice setup, the governor running the whole thing…No, she would stay far away from all that drama. She'd suggested that they just wage a full out war against Woodberry, but her violent, more appealing offer was shut down. She'd gone as far as to briefly describe the final shootout between Rick and the governor, and it may have been the first time he barely cracked a smile since she'd met him. Carl was in hysterics.
"This is serious, if it's going down like that, then some of us need to make sacrifices. Axel, Carol, Herschel, all of you have to die, and I'll die right before Rick kills the governor. Ultimate sacrifice and all that."
"As amusing as this is, none of us are going to die, except for you, if you don't stop rambling about your dream death-"
"And then as we all lay dying of our battle wounds, Rick will whisper, "This…was for you…lil asskicker…" and then pan out-"
"But unfortunately we're dealing with the real shitake here, not a Hollywood franchise. So, instead we'll be going in with Michonne who seems to know her way around the place and rescuing Maggie and Glenn. That's all, end of plan. Please, no dramatic death scenes. That would really fuck up the whole sneakiness factor."
Everyone gave a small, mandatory gasp for what was, perhaps, the first time they had ever heard Rick truly utter a curse word. Carl quickly turned to leave the room as though he hadn't heard anything.
"Did I just drop an f-bomb in front of my kid?"
No one responded save Daryl, who was fighting a snigger.
"Yessir."
Rick swiveled towards Hellebore, who was studying her nails rather intently. She looked up at him, eyes wide and innocent.
"What?" He growled.
"Right. Lets get our stuff gathered up. We leave in an hour. And you're comin with, miss foulmouth."
"That, sir, is bloody hypocritical!"
She filled a water bottle and threw it in a satchel along with her two knives. She was ready far before the rest of them, having nabbed a gun as well and walking outside to stand in the diminsishing light before the stars. The pale dusk washed the sky in a clean light, and the colder air felt fresher. She was more than ready for a fight. She recognized Ricks sauntering footsteps coming up to stand beside her.
"You damn well better stop cussin. I drop another F-bomb in fronta Carl, he'll likely shoot me."
She grinned, looking up at the worn mans profile.
"End of the fuckin world. I decided I'd either start cussing all the time or fucking every living person I met. But I don't actually get along with most people, so that only really left me one choice."
Rick grinned at this and dipped his head in his usual custom.
"End of the fuckin world and a pretty girl can't even get laid. God, it must be the apocalypse."
She smiled serenely.
"Well can we get going then? Ive got a lot of sexual tension that can only be released in a fucking high stress rescue mission."
They wandered back to where the others were surely waiting by now, the stars having come out after the sun had died and the dusky light had settled into a small strip on the horizon.